Why the list of KC Royals trade candidates could stretch beyond Andrew Benintendi
This week, on a night he celebrated his 28th birthday, Royals left fielder Andrew Benintendi reached base four times, scored three runs and drove in another. A day later, he collected two more hits, pushing his on-base percentage to an even .500 over the past two weeks.
It’s been quite the streak.
And it should be part of his final act in Kansas City.
We’re inside of a month of the MLB trade deadline now, and Benintendi and his expiring contract represent the Royals’ most obvious chip and one that looks more valuable with each link in this hot streak’s chain. Ten days ago, the Royals traded their hottest hitter in June, and so what do you do with the hottest hitter in July?
Move him, as well.
The intention isn’t to make this sound like trading Bitcoin on your preferred cryptocurrency app — you need a partner in this dance, and deadlines prompt that music — but the decision to move Benintendi before the deadline is apparent enough that Royals general manager J.J. Picollo has already had conversations with him about it. Benintendi figures that call is coming too, as The Star’s Lynn Worthy reported this week.
But forget the apparent for a moment.
This time around, the Royals need to be ready to embrace some movement with the less apparent. And they might be there already.
As the Royals open up their seller’s market this month, they are willing to put more than a rental player’s name on the shelf, even if they don’t attach the same neon for sale sign to those a little more under the radar.
I’m a bit in believe-it-when-I-see-it mode with this, but when it comes to the non-rentals on the roster, the Royals are listening.
Responsive, even.
It’s not the desired position to unload your most productive players in the heat of the summer — as opposed to using them in your own playoff race — but the Royals are where they are, and every position presents an opportunity, just one of a different sort. Yes, there are still opportunities in 100-loss seasons — they require becoming a little more uncomfortable. Because the side effect to this?
They’ll lose. Probably more often than they do now, and they’re already on pace to top 100 losses.
Fine. If the Royals truly want to set themselves up for a brighter future — to marry talent alongside the timeline of Bobby Witt Jr., MJ Melendez, Vinnie Pasquantino and others who comprised baseball’s top-five farm system to open the year — there’s an opportunity to do that this month. Take advantage of it. That will necessitate not only a willingness to throw more than a corner outfielder’s name on their list of available players, but perhaps an eagerness to do it.
They’re willing. Other teams are aware the Royals’ veterans — not just the rentals — are on the table this month. They’re willing to talk.
But eager? Let’s wait on the actions.
It’s implied that anyone on an expiring contract will be made available. But if the Royals stretch beyond that, they’ll be better for it.
Not now.
But in the future.
And sitting at 30-51 through Thursday, it’s clear which they should prioritize. If that means stomaching losing the most consistent member of this year’s rotation in Brad Keller? So be it. If it means parting ways with closer Scott Barlow? They’d immediately get worse. But that’s the pill you have to swallow.
Whit Merrifield, Michael A. Taylor, Josh Staumont and a host of others. Add them to the list, too. That entire group includes team control beyond 2022. It makes their trade candidacy less implied.
But all the more attractive to the other 29.
That’s the entire reasoning to pursue it. The more cost-controlled years a player has remaining on his contract, the higher the sticker price. The bigger the return. The better you are set up for the long-term future.
Could you get something for, say, Barlow next year at this time? Of course. If he’s still healthy. If he’s still pitching well. If there’s no regression in a position that invites it — he has appeared in more games than any pitcher in the American League over the past three seasons combined. And by the way, ask for less next summer because he will be one year closer to free agency.
Every contending team could use a back-end reliever today, whether they’d use Barlow in the ninth, the eighth, the seventh or anywhere in the game. It’s hard to imagine his value ever being higher. Sure, he’s extraordinarily valuable to a Royals bullpen that struggles to throw strikes at a historic rate. But does it really matter if the Royals lose a couple of more games this year if the trade-off is the potential of a core piece to blend in with their young bats?
This conversation all comes down to a pretty simple question, really: When will the Royals be a contender again?
Ahead of the 2021 season, they signed starting pitcher Mike Minor and first baseman Carlos Santana and acquired Benintendi in a trade. All were multi-year deals because the front office anticipated a path toward participating in a playoff race in 2022. That prediction, clearly, was wrong.
So, when?
A bullseye answer to the when allows the Royals to consider the who. As in, which players will still be in Kansas City when the Royals are next a playoff team? If the list of aforementioned players are not on the list, they ought to be available. Shopped, even.
But the answer to that question — when will they next contend for the postseason?— also drives type of the return package. The Royals are seeking players who fit alongside Witt, Melendez and Pasquantino, and who don’t block some of the intriguing bats in the minors, like Nick Pratto or Michael Massey. That’s the potential core of the future. You always need more pitching — this team in particular.
Guess what helps you find it? Trading more cost-controlled years.
This isn’t making a bunch of trades and wholesale changes for the sake of making trades or sending messages. Trust me, the Royals are far from that model. You have to get the right players, or the right prospects.
But first you have to be willing to find out if the right players or prospects are out there, available in return for players on your roster — even if it means losing more games in 2022.
At least now there would be an effective reason for the losing streaks. And a more optimistic future waiting on the other side of them.
This story was originally published July 8, 2022 at 5:00 AM with the headline "Why the list of KC Royals trade candidates could stretch beyond Andrew Benintendi."